Intel pays VIA $125m to acquire its x86 design talent
(2021/11/08)
- Reference: 1636351284
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2021/11/08/via_sells_centaur_staff_to_intel/
- Source link:
Taiwanese manufacturer VIA has traded employees from its CPU design subsidiary Centaur Technology to Intel.
"Intel will recruit some of Centaur's employees … with certain covenants from the Company … As consideration, Intel will pay Centaur US$125m," [1]read VIA's Taiwan Stock Exchange (TWSE) announcement.
VIA purchased Centaur in 1999 and gave it the job of developing x86-compatible processors that were cheaper and more efficient than Intel's, with the intent of breaking into the embedded systems market.
[2]
That plan didn't work, and VIA never won more than one or two per cent of the x86 market. These days it's more excited about its dashcam and forklift safety systems than microprocessors.
[3]
[4]
But Centaur has kept operating – not that you can tell from its website, which presently indicates it's under construction.
But a spot of Wayback Machine action [5]reveals that as recently as July 2021 Centaur was working on "the industry's first high-performance deep-learning coprocessor integrated into server-class x86 processor". The old website claimed the kit provided 20 tera-operations per second through eight high-performance cores, targeting edge analytics servers running x86 software and DL Inference on multiple data streams.
[6]The return of the turbo button: New Intel hotness causes an old friend to reappear
[7]Microsoft finally remembers Windows on Arm is a thing, reveals native OneDrive client
[8]Huawei reportedly set to salvage honor with sale of server x86 business
[9]Upcoming Intel GPU to be compatible with Arm
It's not hard to see why Intel is interested in that. Chipzilla is all-in on AI and is working on the 47-tile [10]Ponte Vecchio chip that will blend many types of cores – some from manufacturers other than Intel. The company is also keen on blended chips, as demonstrated by the recent release of [11]Alder Lake silicon that borrows from the [12]big.LITTLE approach used by Arm licensees.
Intel is also keen on edge, and doubtless aware that it's a fine location at which to run some AI to prevent pointless data being sent to the core data centre or cloud. A blended AI/x86 chip could help in such scenarios.
[13]
And, as The Register has [14]pointed out many times, good silicon designers are hard to find. Centaur clearly had some that Intel wanted and VIA was willing to offload – perhaps making this transaction a no-brainer, even though it's all about buying brains. ®
Get our [15]Tech Resources
[1] https://emops.twse.com.tw/server-java/t05sr01_1_e?step=&caption_id=000001&pagenum=1&co_id=2388&spoke_date=20211104&spoke_time=211643&seq_no=3&isNew=Y
[2] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2YYlXw97Pa6QzsPLNW75-awAAAJI&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[3] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44YYlXw97Pa6QzsPLNW75-awAAAJI&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[4] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33YYlXw97Pa6QzsPLNW75-awAAAJI&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[5] https://web.archive.org/web/20210703134832/https://www.centtech.com/ai-technology/
[6] https://www.theregister.com/2021/11/05/turbo_button/
[7] https://www.theregister.com/2021/11/03/onedrive_arm/
[8] https://www.theregister.com/2021/11/03/huawei_x86_server_sale_rumoured/
[9] https://www.theregister.com/2021/10/29/intel_gpu/
[10] https://www.theregister.com/2021/08/19/intel_architecture_day/
[11] https://www.theregister.com/2021/10/27/intel_alder_lake/
[12] https://www.theregister.com/2011/10/20/details_on_big_little_processing/
[13] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44YYlXw97Pa6QzsPLNW75-awAAAJI&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[14] https://www.theregister.com/2021/08/30/golden_age_of_ai/
[15] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
"Intel will recruit some of Centaur's employees … with certain covenants from the Company … As consideration, Intel will pay Centaur US$125m," [1]read VIA's Taiwan Stock Exchange (TWSE) announcement.
VIA purchased Centaur in 1999 and gave it the job of developing x86-compatible processors that were cheaper and more efficient than Intel's, with the intent of breaking into the embedded systems market.
[2]
That plan didn't work, and VIA never won more than one or two per cent of the x86 market. These days it's more excited about its dashcam and forklift safety systems than microprocessors.
[3]
[4]
But Centaur has kept operating – not that you can tell from its website, which presently indicates it's under construction.
But a spot of Wayback Machine action [5]reveals that as recently as July 2021 Centaur was working on "the industry's first high-performance deep-learning coprocessor integrated into server-class x86 processor". The old website claimed the kit provided 20 tera-operations per second through eight high-performance cores, targeting edge analytics servers running x86 software and DL Inference on multiple data streams.
[6]The return of the turbo button: New Intel hotness causes an old friend to reappear
[7]Microsoft finally remembers Windows on Arm is a thing, reveals native OneDrive client
[8]Huawei reportedly set to salvage honor with sale of server x86 business
[9]Upcoming Intel GPU to be compatible with Arm
It's not hard to see why Intel is interested in that. Chipzilla is all-in on AI and is working on the 47-tile [10]Ponte Vecchio chip that will blend many types of cores – some from manufacturers other than Intel. The company is also keen on blended chips, as demonstrated by the recent release of [11]Alder Lake silicon that borrows from the [12]big.LITTLE approach used by Arm licensees.
Intel is also keen on edge, and doubtless aware that it's a fine location at which to run some AI to prevent pointless data being sent to the core data centre or cloud. A blended AI/x86 chip could help in such scenarios.
[13]
And, as The Register has [14]pointed out many times, good silicon designers are hard to find. Centaur clearly had some that Intel wanted and VIA was willing to offload – perhaps making this transaction a no-brainer, even though it's all about buying brains. ®
Get our [15]Tech Resources
[1] https://emops.twse.com.tw/server-java/t05sr01_1_e?step=&caption_id=000001&pagenum=1&co_id=2388&spoke_date=20211104&spoke_time=211643&seq_no=3&isNew=Y
[2] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2YYlXw97Pa6QzsPLNW75-awAAAJI&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[3] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44YYlXw97Pa6QzsPLNW75-awAAAJI&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[4] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33YYlXw97Pa6QzsPLNW75-awAAAJI&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[5] https://web.archive.org/web/20210703134832/https://www.centtech.com/ai-technology/
[6] https://www.theregister.com/2021/11/05/turbo_button/
[7] https://www.theregister.com/2021/11/03/onedrive_arm/
[8] https://www.theregister.com/2021/11/03/huawei_x86_server_sale_rumoured/
[9] https://www.theregister.com/2021/10/29/intel_gpu/
[10] https://www.theregister.com/2021/08/19/intel_architecture_day/
[11] https://www.theregister.com/2021/10/27/intel_alder_lake/
[12] https://www.theregister.com/2011/10/20/details_on_big_little_processing/
[13] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44YYlXw97Pa6QzsPLNW75-awAAAJI&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[14] https://www.theregister.com/2021/08/30/golden_age_of_ai/
[15] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
Re: Hello round peg, meet pentagnal shaped hole
Aitor 1
I would say the key is to remove one x86 licensee from the table.
Re: Hello round peg, meet pentagnal shaped hole
Bitsminer
Oi, 100 people divided into $125M is....a down payment on a house, each.
So now we know the acquisition cost of a chip designer. Wow, just wow.
Re: Hello round peg, meet pentagnal shaped hole
badflorist
"a down payment on a house, each."
Damn... 1.25 million is just a down payment? That's 1st World for sure.
Realtors and banks destroy everything.
Re: Hello round peg, meet pentagnal shaped hole
Jim Mitchell
That 125 million is going to Centaur, not the employees in question.
Cyrix?
x 7
Did Centaur include VIA's other CPU brand - Cyrix?
And what happened to S3 graphics? That was in the VIA mix somewhere
Re: Cyrix?
the spectacularly refined chap
As I understand it what VIA bought was essentially IP - trademarks, patents and importantly license agreements to protect themselves from Intel. The design team that once was Cyrix dissolved in the period under National ownership. The account I have heard suggest this was more a gradual atrophy process as engineers left not liking the new regime rather than a conscious decision on National's part.
Hello round peg, meet pentagnal shaped hole
I suspect that Intel wants to take Centaur of the table, to block anyone else from snapping them up.
I have no idea what Centaur is like now, but it used to be a team of about 100 people in total. So when it came to making complex changes, getting positive and negative feedback from everyone involved in that particular change was relatively simple.
The shoehorning of the Centaur staff into the Intel way of working may not go so well.